Nanny-slashing case shocks parents

Suspect's motive still remains a mystery to police

by Deepti Hajela - Oct. 26, 2012 11:03 PMAssociated Press

NEW YORK - The nightmarish case of a nanny accused of stabbing to death two children in her care stunned the family's well-to-do neighborhood and caused many parents to wonder how well they know who is watching their kids.

The nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, lay in critical condition Friday with what police said were self-inflicted knife wounds, and investigators were unable to question her, in part because she was still breathing with the help of a tube. Her motive and mental state remained a mystery, and no immediate charges were filed.

On Thursday evening, the children's mother, Marina Krim, brought her 3-year-old daughter home from a swim lesson to find her other children, ages 2 and 6, dying of knife wounds in the bathtub of their Upper West Side apartment near Central Park. Ortega then turned the blade on herself, police said.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the investigation has yet to reveal anything amiss in the household before the slayings.

Police were looking into whether Ortega, a 50-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who had worked for the family for two years, had recently sought psychiatric help.

If there was tension between the nanny and the Krims, it didn't show on a Web journal kept by the children's mother. Marina Krim spoke lovingly in one entry about traveling to the Dominican Republic last February to stay for several days at the home of Ortega's sister.

"We met Josie's amazing familia!!! And the Dominican Republic is a wonderful country!!" she wrote. Pictures posted on the blog showed the two families posing together for a happy photo, with Ortega hugging the 3-year-old, Nessie, their cheeks pressed together.

Marina Krim, whose husband, Kevin Krim, is a CNBC digital media executive, wrote that Ortega's family had nicknamed little Nessie "Rapida y Furiosa," for her exuberance and energy.

There are tens of thousands of nannies working in New York City, but reports of serious violence by caregivers against children are exceedingly rare. Parents are accused of killing their own children with far more frequency.

More common are stories about nannies like Brunilda Tirado, who threw her body over a stroller to protect a baby from falling debris during a building collapse in the same Manhattan neighborhood in 2005. She suffered a broken arm and other injuries.

The slayings will undoubtedly prompt many parents hiring a nanny to check references more thoroughly, and swallow hard over the possibility that they might unknowingly hire a person who would do their child harm.

"For working parents this is a nightmare. Every mother I know is asking today, 'How do I go back to work?'" said mother Denise Albert, who has two young children and lives a few blocks from the site of the tragedy.

Some parents said their trust in their nannies is unshaken.

"It's a horrible tragedy, but it doesn't make me question my nanny at all," said Elizabeth McCarthy, a single mother of a 6-year-old boy. "For me, I found somebody I trust."

Across the street from the building where the Krims lived, several nannies with children in strollers stood as if stricken, watching police officers milling around the entrance.

Michelle Person, a nanny from Jamaica, broke down thinking about the children who were killed.

"You just feel like it was the kid that you were taking care of, too. It's horrible," she said, her eyes filling with tears. She said she loves the boy she cares for as if he were her own son.

Another nanny, Karen Henry, said she felt uncomfortable walking around after the deaths. "Parents are looking at you as though you're responsible for what happened," she said.

A way out

Cheryl Meyer, a psychology professor at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and co-author of the book "Mothers Who Kill Their Children," said that while many women who kill their kids feel trapped, in most cases a nanny who thinks she is at breaking point with a difficult child can walk out.

She said it's not uncommon to hear of a family where the nanny or baby sitter quits, leaving a note or just never coming back. "Moms can't do that. There's no way out for them. For a nanny, there is an out," Meyer said.